The present technology disclosed in this specification relates generally to a head mount display mounted or worn on the head of a user to serve as an apparatus for displaying a video picture to be watched and listened to by the user and to a display control method for the head mount display. More particularly, the present technology relates to a head mount display that performs apparatus operations in accordance to an operation carried out by the user wearing the head mount display, and also to a display control method for the head mount display. The apparatus operations include operations such as increasing and decreasing the volume of the headphone of the head mount display and start, stop, fast forward and fast rewind of a content.
Display apparatus mounted on the head of a user to serve as an apparatus for displaying a video picture to be watched and listened to by the user, i.e., HMDs (head mount display) are widely known. The head mount display includes an optical unit for each of the left and right eyes of the user. It also serves as a headphone and is configured to control the visual sensation and the auditory sensation. If the head mount display is configured so as to completely shield the user against the external world when the head mount display is mounted on the user's head, the virtual reality can be increased when the user is watching and listening to a video picture reproduced from a BD (Blu-ray Disc) or the like. In addition, the head mount display is also capable of displaying different video pictures to the left and right eyes. Thus, if images having a disparity are displayed to the left and right eyes, a 3D image can be presented.
The head mount display has display sections for the left and right eyes. As the display sections, a display panel having a high resolution can be used. Examples of the display panel having a high resolution are panels formed of a liquid-crystal element or an EL (Electro-Luminescence) element. Further, if a proper field angle is set in an optical system and multiple channels are reproduced by the head phone, the realistic sensations like ones experienced in a theatre may probably be reproduced.
Many of the head mount displays have a light shielding characteristic and are configured to directly cover the eyes of the user. Thus, when the head mount display is mounted on the head of the user, the user is put in the same environment as a dark place so that the user is capable of immersing himself or herself into a displayed video picture.
In general, a head mount display is connected to an AV reproduction apparatus such as a DVD player or a BD (Blu-ray Disc) player and is used to view a content such as a movie. For more information, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2005-86328, for example.
When the user wants to watch and listen to an AV content, the user gives commands to the head mount display to increase and decrease the volume of the headphone or start, stop, fast forward and fast rewind the AV content and so forth.
For example, there has been proposed an image display apparatus of the head mount type, connected with a controller having various members for entering commands to the image display apparatus, such as menu buttons for displaying a menu and confirming a selected item, an up button and a down button for moving the focused item, a volume dial for controlling the volume, etc. For more information on such image display apparatus, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-133724, for example.
However, since the head mount display has a light shielding characteristic and is an “immersive type” which directly covers the eyes of the user, once the user is equipped with the head mount display, the user is required to operate the controller with his or her eyes covered by the head mount display to carry out various apparatus operations. It is thus possible that the user operates the head mount display incorrectly due to reasons such as pushing the wrong button.
There is also another kind of image display apparatus of the head mount type that employs an OSD (On Screen Display) function which displays, superposed on the original video picture, a character signal of a menu for adjusting a picture and sound or for performing other input operations. For more information on such image display apparatus, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-98471, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-36069, or Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-189441, for example.
In the case of an image display apparatus of the immersive type, the user needs to operate control buttons and switches with eyes covered. Thus, it can be considered that the operations are difficult to carry out.